The Wave Glider Test Program in Kiel confirmed that our newly built Autonmous Seafloor Geodesy System is fully functional and ready for active deployment. Working with our collaborators at GEOMAR, who have also just built their own system, we spent 4 days in Kiel, performing land-based tests and then 3 days of ship work.
Loading of Wave Glider and acoutistic transponder onto the Littorina
During the ship days we deployed a seafloor acoutistic transponder to which we then made active acoustic ranging measurements from our Wave Glider systems. This confirmed that all components of our system are fully functional.
Preparing the launch of the Wave Glider
We also practiced the launch and recovery of the Wave Glider: key skills that will be needed when we deploy our new system for its first projects. The target for our first project is not yet decided, however we are working together with GEOMAR's seafloor geodesy group to identify the most interesting science target. This will almost certainly be a subduction zone, where the science goals will be to better understand the active processes that lead to megathrust earthquakes and tsunamis and the hazards that these structures represent to coastal communinites. Once we have agreed on our target, we will be submitting proposals to acquire funding for the project.
Participants: Institute of Geodesy, University of Stuttgart Prof. James Foster Jochen Huber Ron Schlesinger GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel John DeSanto Hendrik Lenz Johannes Gehrig US Geological Survey Todd Ericksen Sonardyne Guy Hebden Earth Sciences, New Zealand Neville Palmer